Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece – serie

The famous Franchthi Cave excavations in Greece brought to light an exceptionally long sequence of ornaments, spanning from the earliest Upper Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic. This volume focuses on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments and ornamental species, which constitute one of the largest collections in Europe for these periods combined. Franchthi is one of the few identified production centers for ornaments, which are overwhelmingly dominated by marine molluscs. The detailed publication of these collections (Cyclope neritea, Antalis sp. and Columbella rustica) will be useful to all malacologists and specialists in ornaments working around the Mediterranean. These reference collections, coupled with the examination of manufacturing and wear traces on the archaeological specimens, allow a detailed reconstruction of the whole production cycle from procurement to discard. The systematic association of unworked, freshly worked and very worn shells suggests that the ornaments mostly served for the production or rejuvenation of embroidered garments. Despite the richness of the assemblages and varied local resources, the range of ornament types is surprisingly narrow and fundamentally stable through time. The ornaments from Franchthi Cave therefore paint a different portrait of the European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, one based on regional cultural continuity.

The famous Franchthi Cave excavations in Greece brought to light an exceptionally long sequence of ornaments, spanning from the earliest Upper Paleolithic to the end of the Neolithic. This volume focuses on the Neolithic, whose assemblages are far more diversified than those of earlier times. The introduction during the Neolithic of entirely artificial shapes, geometric and anthropomorphic, creates a marked departure from earlier periods and shows new directions in creativity by the bead makers. It also denotes a conceptual break in the treatment of shell, no longer solely a natural element barely modified by perforation, but now also a raw material rendered anonymous by workmanship. Due to the systematic sieving of the sediments and its location by the sea, the Franchthi cave and its outdoor settlement, the Paralia, yielded one of the richest collection of ornaments for Neolithic Greece.

This fascicle completes the presentation of the ceramic remains from the Franchthi Cave excavations.

This fascicle describes the background of the Franchthi project and its excavation history and methodology. Particle size, mineralogy, and chemistry are all taken into consideration as the cultural remains and the sediments from the cave are analyzed to determine their origin and history. William Farrand constructs an integrated stratigraphy for the entire cave using excavators' notes, laboratory analyses, and personal field data to correlate sequences in separate trenches. On the basis of some 60 radiocarbon dates, the evolution and chronology of the sedimentary fill is postulated.

This fascicle is the thirteenth in the series of Level One publications of the excavations at Franchthi Cave and is the third and final installment of the report on the site's chipped stone industries. The objective of Catherine Perlès's study is to make sense of the chronology of the site in its economic, technological, and typological dimensions. All phases of the Neolithic are represented at Franchthi Cave. Rich with more than 3,000 reconstructed pieces, this study offers a representative and technical typology that is unequaled today. The first part of the analysis offers diagnostic elements to facilitate comparisons between the lithic sequence and surface dating and is more descriptive than interpretive. The second part is dedicated to a step-by-step analysis of the Franchthi material in a well-defined chrono-stratigraphical framework. The third and most interpretive portion of the study addresses itself more specifically to those who are interested in the socio-economic organizational problems of Neolithic societies.Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece—Thomas W. Jacobsen, editor, with Karen D. Vitelli

Despite their ubiquitous presence among prehistoric remains in Greece, ground stone tools have yet to attract the same kind of attention as have other categories of archaeological material, such as pottery or lithics. Flexible Stones provides a detailed analysis of the material discovered during the excavations at Franchthi Cave, Peloponnese, Greece. Approximately 500 tools, the raw material used for their manufacture, as well as the byproducts of such manufacture were found. Most of this collection comes from the Neolithic component of the site—including a small number of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cases—with a large number of the studied tools indicating multiple uses. Anna Stroulia sees the multifunctional character of these tools as a conscious choice that reflects a flexible attitude of tool makers and users toward tools and raw materials.

"With the long-awaited publication of these three volumes we have the first thorough documentation of one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Mediterranean, that of Franchthi Cave in the Argolid Peninsula of Greece." —American Anthropologist" . . . an exceptional contribution to the hitherto very inadequate knowledge of this period in Greece." —Antiquity" . . . the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes." —Quarterly Research"Perlès's study is impressive in the systematic application of a well-thought-out methodology." —American AntiquityThis study of chipped/flaked stone tools found in the excavations at Franchthi Cave is the first of its kind in Greek archaeology, if not in the whole of southeastern European prehistory.

This is the second volume of Catherine Perlès's study of the chipped/flaked stone tools found at Franchthi Cave, the first of its kind in Greek archaeology, if not in the whole of southeastern European prehistory. In French.

"With the long-awaited publication of these three volumes we have the first thorough documentation of one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Mediterranean, that of Franchthi Cave in the Argolid Peninsula of Greece." —American Anthropologist" . . . the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes." —Quarterly ResearchThis volume describes the evolution of the landscape around Franchthi Cave over 25,000 years, its impact on prehistoric inhabitants, and theirs on it.

" . . . the archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from Franchthi Cave are unique in providing a site-specific record of the cultural responses to great environmental changes." —Quarterly ResearchThe marine molluscan material covered here is the largest sample of its kind yet excavated in Greece.

" . . . an interesting and valuable contribution to geoarchaeology." —GeoarchaeologyThe geomorphology of Franchthi paralia; soil profiles; classification of sediments; stratigraphic succession; submarine sediments; holocene environment of the Argolid; and more.

" . . . a highly innovative study that foregrounds the decision-making and technological choices of Neolithic potters . . . " —Antiquity" . . . imaginative, rigorous and admirably lucid study." —Journal of Hellenic StudiesThe first of two systematic reports on the more than one million sherds of pottery recovered from the Franchthi Cave and Paralia which will significantly increase our understanding of Neolithic pottery and Neolithic society in southern Greece. Illustrated.